


Carisi and Barba, Hand in Hand

by FreckledSkittles



Series: Because Of You, I Have Company [3]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Coming Out, Dating, M/M, Other, as in they disclose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 09:28:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20225587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreckledSkittles/pseuds/FreckledSkittles
Summary: “So what was it you wanted to tell me?” Olivia asks, then adds, “And perhaps Carisi as well.” She holds back a smile at her last comment. As a lieutenant, she didn’t participate in the bullpen banter anymore, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t hear it.“It includes Carisi,” Rafael states. Carisi stops his tapping for a second to send a kick sideways, and Rafael glares at him. “Scuff them and you’re banned from my office.”Carisi pouts but relents, his leg already returning to jumping up and down in one place. Olivia glances between the two of them. She opts to stay silent and let them come forward with whatever Rafael—and apparently Carisi—wants to share with her. Saying anything else could threaten whatever they want to share.For some, it's time to come clean.





	Carisi and Barba, Hand in Hand

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sorta sequel to my first fic in this series; I wrote down the first half of this after I wrote it to get the idea down. The only reason I'm posting it today is because it's been a tough day and writing some happy Barisi banter helped ease it. Plus this version of Barisi never fails to make me smile; they're very sweet babes

Olivia tries not to hold her detectives on too high of a standard, but with their continuous lack of forces, and the work that they’ve done, she can’t help but fall into the habit. They help victims get justice and find much-needed closure, gathering evidence to present at trial—and with an ADA like Rafael Barba, and a conviction record that speaks for itself, there is more than enough to be proud of—to ensure that the individuals who commit crimes are locked away and punished for their actions. And if that is not enough, there have been few cases in the past few months that have hovered over her detectives after its closure. This isn’t to say that none of the cases they pick up are devoid of hardship or lacking emotional baggage that weighs on them. The point is: Olivia hasn’t had to force one of them to go home and rest, take their mind away from the case, in quite a while.

Fin was never one to let work get to him, but he has become more of a confidant since becoming Sergeant, and Olivia likes to think that being a grandfather has helped that. Amanda goes through the same rituals with Jessie that she had when Noah was younger, but when she leaves work to see her daughter, the tension in her shoulders drops as she walks out. And Sonny, interestingly enough, with seemingly no obvious reason for why he would be acting different, has maintained all the vigor and excitement of a rookie detective but with the finesse and experience that his years at SVU have provided. Olivia is genuinely proud of how well all of them have done.

Just after lunch, there is a knock on her door. They had been relatively slow that day, mostly filling out paperwork or corroborating witness statements for open cases. The only thing she had scheduled was Rafael stopping by at his earliest convenience to follow-up on their latest trial. And sure enough, the ADA enters her office, holding out a coffee holder for her to take the last cup.

“I have two things for you,” Rafael announces, then hesitates and eyes the ceiling in brief thought, “well, three. But the two are work-related.”

Olivia smirks past the lid of her coffee. “I expect nothing less from you. Skipping out on court to talk to me, though…” She leans back in her chair with a shrug. “That’s a surprise.”

“I have time to chat. We’re out until tomorrow.” Rafael, in lieu of taking a seat, props his briefcase on the chair’s armrest and pulls out a folded sheet of paper. “First off, your requested warrant. I made sure to cover all electronics or form of media, including photo albums, scrapbooks, and photographs. If those teenagers are right, and he keeps a collection of his so-called work, I can twist a guilty plea out of him.”

Olivia takes the paper with a nod. An upper-class family had reported their gardener for harassment, and a look further revealed possible pedophilia, but the warrant would provide physical evidence to match the word of witnesses. “And the second?”

“The next time you request a warrant with sloppy penmanship on your detective’s paperwork, I’ll take my time getting it. It took almost twelve hours to complete one page.”

An empty threat, and a large exaggeration, but Olivia catches the emotion he tries to send. Anyone unfamiliar with Rafael would probably take his word seriously, even if he has worked just as hard for justice. “I understand. I’ll be sure to pass that on to them.”

“Who wrote it? An ambidextrous lizard or a polydactyl cat?”

“Carisi, probably. He’s done all the filing on this one.”

Rafael rolls his eyes and scoffs. “Of course he has. The man writes like a bonobo who just discovered a pencil.” There is a loud cough from the bullpen, and Olivia glances out the window behind Barba to at least see who made it. Carisi, Rollins, and Fin are all working. All three of them have coffee cups on their desks, all of which have the same logo as the one Olivia has and the one Rafael is clutching. If he brought five drinks up, while carrying his briefcase, she would like to know how he balanced everything.

“Fin and I were able to read it fine,” Olivia points out. Rafael hums but says nothing, taking a sip of coffee instead. “What else did you want to tell me?”

Rafael pauses. He adjusts the sleeve on his cup, but it looks more like a distraction than an actual problem that had to be fixed. “It’s a bit more private. Would you mind if I shut the door?”

“Go ahead.”

Rafael strides over to close the door, but he pauses for a second to look in the bullpen. At that moment, Carisi looks up and stands from his desk, walking over despite the curious glances he receives. He doesn’t enter the office, just stands in the doorway as Rafael takes a seat in front of Olivia’s desk. And when he makes no signs of moving forward, Rafael sighs and looks over at him.

“We don’t have to do this,” he says, and if Olivia knew any better, she would say it sounded…soft. Gentle, almost, as one would talk to someone near and dear to them.

“I know that,” Carisi huffs, nodding to her. “I just wanna make sure it’s okay to come in first.”

“Come and sit, Carisi,” Olivia offers softly. Carisi smiles and finally steps in, shutting the door and sitting in the chair adjacent to Barba. From the bullpen, Olivia can see Rollins and Fin looking over at the office in confusion.

With both of them sitting down, Olivia can see an obvious nature the two of them have presented. Rafael’s right hand rests on his crossed legs, his left hand holding the coffee he is currently downing, and his fingers drum idly on his knee. Sonny holds his coffee in his right hand and sits with his legs spread, but his left legs jitters in what Olivia can only guess is anxiety. The two chairs positioned in front of her desk face her, but the two of them have shifted them on a slight angle. They aren’t fully turned away, not by a long shot, but the chairs are facing each other more than before.

“So what was it you wanted to tell me?” Olivia asks, then adds, “And perhaps Carisi as well.” She holds back a smile at her last comment. As a lieutenant, she didn’t participate in the bullpen banter anymore, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t hear it. The jibes thrown at Carisi when the day was slow and the side remarks given to Barba during recesses were a little too obvious. Not to mention in a room full of experienced detectives, Olivia had also caught the looks and gestures the duo shared from a mile away.

“It includes Carisi,” Rafael states. Carisi stops his tapping for a second to send a kick sideways, and Rafael glares at him. “Scuff them and you’re banned from my office.”

Carisi pouts but relents, his leg already returning to jumping up and down in one place. Olivia glances between the two of them. She opts to stay silent and let them come forward with whatever Rafael—and apparently Carisi—wants to share with her.

Carisi clears his throat and shifts in his chair. “So, uh,” he begins, “we—err, I wanted to let you know that recently, I disclosed a personal relationship with a colleague to 1PP. In the event that, y’know, the personal relationship interferes with the working one.”

“Oh?” Olivia steals a quick glance at Rafael, who stares at his empty coffee cup like he’s willing it to burst into flames and burn him alive. “Congratulations. Who’s the lucky partner?”

Rafael looks up at her when she asks, but she’s already focused on Carisi again, who chuckles softly and shrugs. “Well, ah, see, they wanted to know that I was okay here before we said anything. I know you guys are accepting, and you’ve accepted me, especially, way more than any other squad has, but it’s not…” Carisi struggles to find the words, but a brief gesture from Rafael—an extension of his right arm to Carisi’s chair—seems to calm him down and help him continue. “It’s not what people would expect.”

“I’m not sure I follow.” Olivia is sure—more than sure, that is Barba’s hand holding Carisi’s—of who they’re talking about. But she worries that making any of her words sound like accusations will force them to clam up and reveal nothing to her. She refuses to take this moment away from them, so she stays quiet and waits for them to say it on their own.

“I think what Carisi is trying to say,” Rafael cuts in, “is that his partner wants to make sure that the partner’s status will not pass judgment onto Carisi. We all know the NYPD struggles with tolerance despite posing as an inclusive institution in a progressive city, but you can never be too careful.”

Olivia nods. “Okay. So what I’m hearing, Carisi, is that your partner wants to make sure that you aren’t going to get held back because you’re dating someone with his status.”

“Exactly!” Carisi’s smile is wide, and Olivia catches a hint of Rafael smiling back before he bows his head and steels his expression back to neutral. “My relationship might result in a recusal from one of our coworkers if I’m the head detective, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find an able-bodied ADA, or that I can’t do my job without worrying about my relationship with my partner.”

“The same thing was said at the partner’s work,” Rafael adds, this time letting the lilt of a smile stay on his face. “The relationship will not hinder his work in any way, they won’t hold him back, and he has no problem with recusing himself if necessary. Just in case you were worried we were attacking you.”

Olivia shakes her head at that last part. She can only imagine what happened at the District Attorney’s Office: possibly soft threats that they would have to find an equally talented ADA as Rafael Barba if they didn’t accept their declaration, maybe a bit more open than the dance they were doing here, but only because they might not pick up on it. She relishes, for a brief moment, that this charade is between the three of them before she speaks.

“I don’t have any problems with this,” Olivia confirms. Both Carisi and Barba visibly relax, and the sight warms her. Even if they had nothing to hide from her, the thought that this made them so worried drives her to delete any anxiety from them. “The only thing I have to ask is why you’re telling me this. Especially if you already disclosed to 1PP.”

“Well, this was the partner’s idea,” Carisi instantly answers. Whatever content or happiness was on Rafael’s face is dropped instantly and replaced with a frown. Olivia bites back an amused laugh. “They didn’t think that the disclosure would show our true intent, and they wanted to make sure our bosses understood that just because we’re in a relationship doesn’t mean we aren’t going to be idiots about this. I mean, we’ve been fooling around for a while, and we’ve managed fine, so it’s not like we’re suddenly unable to work because we’re too busy making out—”

“Please, keep going,” Rafael barks. “Why stop while you’re ahead?”

Sonny frowns at him and, instead of kicking him again, nudges their knees together. “I’m just repeating what I told you. If we were able to fool around and not have it interfere with work, what difference does disclosing make?”

“I agree, but you don’t have to let the entire office know what we’ve been up to. Does keeping a secret mean anything to you?”

“We disclosed, Raf, I’m not discussing our sex life!”

“Alright, we don’t have to be loud about this,” Olivia states, cutting off the argument before it gets out of control. Fin and Rollins are already eavesdropping, sipping their drinks and watching intently from the bullpen. They can find out everything in their own time. “Am I safe to say that your disclosure includes each other?”

“Yes,” the two say simultaneously. They share a look of surprise, which Carisi smiles at, but Rafael stays stoic and cautious.

“Okay, good. Congratulations to both of you.” She waits for them to look back at her before she continues. “I can assure both of you that your relationship won’t affect your jobs. Carisi,” he perks up at his name, reminding her of a golden retriever puppy Noah saw on his way to school, “you don’t have to worry about leading a case. If and when you’re the primary detective, we can find a prosecutor if it goes to trial. And Barba,” he swallows roughly, his chin slightly raised when she fixes his stare on him, “you can still prosecute our cases. I don’t want to take any opportunity away from either of you.”

The two remain silent, Carisi fumbling with his coffee cup and Rafael idly rubbing his thumb along the surface of Carisi’s hand. Her detective is the first one to speak; he straightens up in his chair and clears his throat, and a smile rises on his lips. “Well. That’s a good sign, huh?”

Olivia smiles back and takes a sip of her drink. “How long have you been together?”

“Last March, after that dinner party I had.”

“Wow.” Olivia goes over the events that had happened in the past year and quickly realizes how long fourteen months can be. Some things make a little more sense—that one week in November when they sat a bit too close during a meeting, the time last June when Rafael grabbed a book from a shelf and Carisi choked on his coffee, another when Carisi, rolled sleeves and long gait, walked in late and made the ADA drop the bag of pretzels he was toying with. They did a decent job of hiding the true depth of their relationship, and for that, she commends them.

“Technically,” Rafael adds, “we’ve been officially dating for a few weeks.”

Carisi hums and nods. “Yeah, technically. After the Fordham basketball game. We took our time to get our thoughts together before we came out.”

“And because someone wanted to hold off on every conversation.”

“Raf, we’ve kept this on the down low for over a year, I don’t see what difference disclosing will make.”

“Do you want Buchanan saying I fucked you so your testimony could be in my favor? Or to have someone claim we’re conspiring against them for a guilty verdict?”

“Wait, why can’t I be the one fucking you for court favor?”

“Fine, do you want Buchanan saying we  _ fucked each other _ for your testimony?”

“Thank you, and no.”

“Oh good. I’m glad we cleared that up.”

Olivia lets out a long sigh; at least the banter is the same. The only change in their interactions might be the intimacy they can publicly share now. “Well, I’m happy you two are on the same page.”

“Thank you,” Rafael grumbles, even as Carisi tightens the grip on his hand and squeezes. If the attempt means to soften him up, it definitely works. Rafael leans back in his chair, and the corners of his lips twitch. “I don’t usually speak for both of us, but things are nice. We’re happy.” Carisi’s smile is blinding, and it only helps draw a similar expression out from Rafael.

“That’s really good. Really, I’m happy for both of you.” She glances outside at the bullpen to see that Fin and Rollins are still peeking in. As early as Mike Dodds’ time on the squad, the two of them have had their fair share of comments on Carisi’s more than obvious infatuation with the ADA and Barba’s definite tolerance for the new detective that has gone past shadowing on the Hodda case. There’s no doubt in her mind that those two have already formed their own thoughts on what has transpired. When Olivia stands, the two quickly hurry back to their desks and portray an image of poise far from espionage. “If there’s anything either of you need, you know that you can come to me.”

“Will do, Lieu,” Carisi assures her. The couple stand and break away, but they only maintain a few inches between each other, and their focus is on each other, their gazes locked together. If they reached out, their hands could touch and entwine, but as the three walk out of the office, they only maintain a shoulder’s breath of distance. Although Olivia walks with them, it’s clear their attention is on each other. “Are you, uh, heading out now?”

Rafael smirks. “Why, do you have something in mind?”

Carisi glances at Olivia, but she pulls out her phone and checks messages, posing as indifferent to their conversation. “No, I was just wondering. I can walk you down.”

“I’d like that.”

“Cool. And, um. If you’re working late tonight, I can stop by with dinner.”

“Hmm. Tempting.” If they step closer, Olivia doesn’t hear it. And if they hold hands and eye each other with buckets of admiration, she is none the wiser. “I think I’ll go out with my boyfriend tonight.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll let him know.”

The smile on Rafael’s face is something that Olivia has seen on one other occasion. She had remembered, when thinking back on the moments that Rafael and Carisi were not so secret, a night after a big win where they revealed deep secrets over a bottle of Barbera. It couldn’t have been more than two months before Mike’s funeral—she remembers that for sure, since Mike stayed after the others to make sure they got home alright—and they made jokes about the wine looking like his last name. Olivia recalls just a snippet of a conversation, where Rafael grabbed her shoulder and stared at her with an intensity that nearly pushed him out of his chair.

“I like your new detective,” he had said. “Not that one.” He pointed at Mike and nearly poked his eye out with his wave. “The other one. The giraffe.”

“When did I hire a giraffe?” Olivia laughed. Rafael joined her and leaned against her with a high-pitched cackle.

“The Italian one! With the dimples and the legs and the Fordham law degree.” Rafael eased back and smiled wide. Olivia could only describe it as pure and unhindered by any trademark defense of Rafael Barba. It was a grin that could only be controlled by a subconscious, the kind that accompanied fluttered heartbeats and could be locked away for months after its sighting. She didn’t bring up the moment—it was far too personal, and it felt wrong to mention, especially if he didn’t remember—but she wasn’t about to forget how happy her dear friend was to see talk about someone he feels strongly for.

Rafael bids her goodbye with a grip on her shoulder that she can only identify as thankful. She gives him a smile and watches the two leave; Carisi takes Rafael’s hand as they wait for the elevator, and neither seem keen on backing away. Olivia can’t help but smile after them at the pair; they compliment each other nicely.

“So, are they exclusive or something?” Rollins asks. Both she and Fin watch the two walk away; it’s no coincidence they’re sharing mischievous smirks.

“You should ask them yourselves,” she says, and she strides across the room to talk to the desk sergeant.

Carisi returns almost ten minutes later with a flush across his cheeks and a beam that shines with the utmost happiness. Rollins and Fin have plenty of questions to jab at him, and Olivia lets them have a break from work for now. Her detectives are some of if not the absolute best in the NYPD. And when a call comes in later that day, they jump into action, their questions lulled for now.

**Author's Note:**

> -The "sitting too close in November" is a reference to the second story in this series, "Because of the Rules"  
-the choking on coffee and spilling pretzels will be featured in a separate fic that will (hopefully) be PWP  
-I still haven't decided if I want to include the drunk night with Rafael and babysitter Mike Dodds in its own fic, if only bc I know I'll miss Mike more than I already do
> 
> Thank you for the read, I greatly appreciate it <3


End file.
